Names Added, New Charges Filed in Mumbai, Denmark Terror Plots

A superseding indictment adds three defendants to charges filed last month against Chicago resident David Coleman Headley for his role in the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, that killed approximately 164 people, including six Americans.

The indictment adds charges against Headley associate Tahawwur Rana, a Canadian citizen, Chicago resident and native of Pakistan, alleging his participation in conspiracies involving the Mumbai terror attacks, a plot to attack a Danish newspaper and support for the Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist group. Also charged in the indictment is Illyas Kashmiri, leader of a prominent al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group in Pakistan, and Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed, a retired major in the Pakistani military.

Complaints were filed against Rana and Abdur Rehman earlier, but the indictment charges Kashmiri for the first time.

According to the indictment, Headley traveled to India five times between September 2006 and July 2008 to scout potential targets for Lashkar. With help from Rana, who owned First World Immigration Services in Chicago and elsewhere, Headley opened a First World office in Mumbai as a cover for his reconnaissance activities. The indictment alleges that Rana advised Hedley on how to obtain a visa for travel to India. Headley misrepresented information on his visa application and changed his name from Daood Gilani to present himself as an American. Lashkar members also provided Headley with a global positioning system device to enable him to record locations of possible landing sites and potential targets in Mumbai, the indictment said.

Headley also allegedly conspired with Rana, Kashmiri, Abdur Rehman, and others to attack the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten and two of its employees. The newspaper has published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad four years ago that had led to violent protests throughout the Muslim world.

In January 2009, Headley traveled to Denmark to conduct surveillance of Jyllands-Posten offices in Copenhagen and Aarhus and videotape the surrounding areas. With Rana's assistance, Headley identified himself as a First World representative and gained access to the newspaper building by saying he was interested in buying an advertisement in the paper. Later that month, Headley traveled to Pakistan to discuss the planning of the attacks with Abdur Rehman and a Lashkar member. Abdur Rehman allegedly took Headley to meet with Kashmiri in the Waziristan region of Pakistan. Kashmiri suggested using a truck bomb for the operation and promised to provide manpower if needed. The newspaper attack was subsequently put on hold because of heightened vigilance in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks.

To read the indictment, click here.

Superiors May Face Reprimands in Hasan Case

He openly placed religious law above the U.S. Constitution, accused the United States of being at war with Islam and justified the signature act of modern terrorism.

Yet, Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, routinely received favorable performance reviews, rose through the ranks and maintained his security clearance. The Defense Department's review of how that happened was released Friday morning. It finds Hasan's superiors ignored warning signs in his performance and religious zeal.

Sections of the report dealing with Hasan's November 5 massacre at Fort Hood will not be released due to the ongoing criminal investigation. He is charged with 13 counts of murder and 32 counts of attempted murder. He remains hospitalized, and reportedly is paralyzed, after being shot during his rampage.

Details of the review have been leaking out all week. While they detail the many ways in which Hasan progressed despite his performance, no report as of yet explains why so many officers would look the other way. It is not clear whether the issue of political correctness, or undue deference to Hasan's religion, prompted the officers' actions.

CNN reports that Hasan's superiors were all able to clearly see in his records that as an officer, medical student and a psychiatrist, Hasan was a repeat poor performer.

He took six years to graduate from medical school instead of the four years it takes most students. He was on academic probation for receiving numerous below average and failing grades between 1997 and 2007 at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, according to the official. In addition, he was criticized for proselytizing to his patients and gave an odd presentation that included justifications for terrorist attacks.

"It is clear that, as a department, we have not done enough to adapt to the evolving domestic internal security threat to American troops and military facilities that has emerged over the past decade," Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters.

Among the report's recommendations is for the Pentagon to work with the FBI to better track possible threats. It also calls for measures to better identify soldiers who could pose a risk to others.

The Associated Press reports that Army officials may reprimand as many as eight officers.

The FBI's statment regarding its review of Fort Hood can be seen here.

Congressman Asks: How do we Handle 55,000 Americans in Yemen?

Media reports indicate that U.S. officials are concerned another tack on the U.S. is being planned by Al Qaeda in Yemen.

According to NBC's Pete Williams, intelligence officials are identifying signals that an attack is in the works that are similar to communication missed before the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner.

It's not clear whether anyone has determined the nature of the possible attack or where it might originate.

According to U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), the State Department believes there are 55,000 Americans visiting or living in Yemen. In a letter to Deputy National Security Advisor John Brennan Tuesday, Wolf asked how the government is assessing the threat posed by "the possible radicalization of those who can fly back to the U.S. with American passports? This is especially troubling in light of the fact that the Yemeni government does not control large portions of the country outside the capital city."

Wolf's letter asks a series of Yemen-related questions, noting that terror plots against the United States involve people who were radicalized there, or were influenced by American-born cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki.

Among them:

Whether six Guantanamo detainees sent to Yemen in December are in government custody or whether reports that they have been released to their families are true.

Whether would-be underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab told officials he trained with other Al Qaeda operatives who were plotting similar attacks.

A series of questions about Abdulmutallab's interrogation and the decision to charge him criminally, rather than as an enemy combatant.

Wolf also wants to have the chairmen of the 9/11 Commission identify which of their recommendations remain unfulfilled. See his letter to Brennan here.

Informant Takes Jury Inside Toronto Terror Plot

A man who infiltrated a Toronto terrorist cell is providing chilling testimony about a plot to unleash a series of bombings in the hear of the city.

Shaher Elsohemy was paid millions by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Canadian intelligence to infiltrate the "Toronto 18." The group planned to use three tons of ammonium nitrate to bomb the Canadian stock exchange, intelligence service and a military base before authorities broke up the group in 2006.

Alleged ringleader Shareef Abdelhaleem was apprehensive about the plot, Elsohemy testified, but that changed when Abdelhaleem's father issued a fatwa approving it. According to the National Post:

"The fatwa, or religious ruling, from Mr. Abdelhaleem's father would have held significance because the elder Mr. Abdelhaleem ran an Islamic education school in Mississauga, the court heard. For Shareef Abdelhaleem, who had been somewhat skeptical, the fatwa affirmed that the plot to detonate truck bombs in southern Ontario was Islamically sound, Mr. Elsohemy testified. He said Mr. Abdelhaleem would later interpret the fatwa to mean simply, 'f---them,' in reference to Canadian citizens."

Elsohemy testified that he was tasked with obtaining the chemicals for the bombs.

Abdelhaleem wanted to strike the stock exchange in the early morning hours to make a political point and wreak economic havoc more than try to kill more people, the Toronto Star reported about Elsohemy's testimony:

"He said this plot will screw Stephen Harper, the government and the military and this might lead to Canada pulling its troops out of Afghanistan because they're not tough like the British and the Americans."

Four co-conspirators have entered guilty pleas, a fifth was convicted and five more face trial this spring. Before police swooped in, members of the group met with two Georgia men who wanted to carry out their own attacks. Sayid Haris Ahmed was sentenced to 13 years in prison and Ehsanul Sadequee was sentenced to 17 years after being convicted on conspiracy to support the Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

For more on Elsohemy's testimony and background on the case, click here.

US Report: Indian Crime Syndicate Finds Common Cause with Al Qaeda

A Congressional report issued last week details links between international terrorism and transnational crime and refers to fugitive Indian gangster Dawood Ibrahim. Ibrahim's notorious D-Company, a criminal syndicate of 5,000 members operating in Pakistan, India, and the United Arab Emirates, is described as a prime example of the "criminal-terrorism fusion model."

The report claims that Ibrahim's poly-crime syndicate engages in crimes including extortion, smuggling, narcotics and contract killing. It has forged alliances with terrorist groups like al Qaeda and Laskar-e-Taiba (LeT). According to the Congressional Research Service report: "The D-Company's own terrorist endeavors, its deep pockets, and its reported cooperation with LeT and al Qaeda, present a credible threat to U.S. interests in South Asia."

The report further alleges that the "D-Company is believed to have both deepened its strategic alliance with the ISI and developed links to Lashkar-e-Taiba, which was designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) in 2001." The Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI, and Lashkar e-Taiba are believed to have been involved in the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury designated Ibrahim as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) in 2003. Three years later, Ibrahim and his D-Company were designated by President George W. Bush as a Significant Foreign Narcotics Trafficker under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (also known as the "Kingpin Act").

The son of a police constable, Ibrahim was born in Ratnagiri, an Indian port city on the Arabian Sea coast. A school-drop out, the Indian crime lord started as a low-level smuggler in Mumbai in the 1970s. By the 1980s and early 1990s, the report said, he became the leader of a multi-billion dollar crime syndicate involving prostitution, gambling, and drugs. The organization has also infiltrated Bollywood, the Mumbai-based Indian film industry "extorting producers, assassinating directors, distributing movies, and pirating films."

Indian authorities have accused Ibrahim of masterminding a series of bombing attacks in Mumbai in 1993 - allegedly with assistance from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI). The bombings, which included attacks on the Mumbai stock exchange, killed 257 people and injured hundreds more. Following the attacks, Ibrahim reportedly fled to Karachi, Pakistan. New Delhi has repeatedly asked Islamabad to hand him over with no success.

Ibrahim has also been implicated in the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. The sole surviving gunman in the attacks, Azam Amir Kasab confessed to authorities that he and nine other terrorists left the Pakistani city of Karachi for Mumbai on a merchant vessel owned by Ibrahim. The attacks left 183 people dead, including nine terrorists, and hundreds more injured.

The full Congressional Research Service Report can be read here.

Second Congress Member Calls for Action on Viva Palestina

Because it has "consistently provided material support" to Hamas, the U.S. Treasury Department should designate Viva Palestina as a supporter of a foreign terrorist organization, a Republican congresswoman said in a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

Sue Myrick's letter cites the volume of goods Viva Palestina convoys have delivered to Gaza and the leadership's open acknowledgement of its Hamas support. Such a designation could freeze Viva Palestina assets in the U.S. and put a halt to future support for convoys.

The third Viva Palestina convoy in the past 12 months ended in violence last week when clashes broke out at the Egyptian border with Gaza. Dozens of people were injured and an Egyptian officer was killed. Egypt deported Galloway upon his exit from Gaza. The convoy left London in early December and was greeted by Hamas officials in countries throughout the way.

In December, California Democrat Brad Sherman sent similar letters to the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Justice and the State Department.

To read more about Viva Palestina's Hamas support, click here.

Campus Lessons in Extremism from England

As disturbing as the failed Christmas Day bombing attempt on a Northwest airlines flight has been for Americans, Britons are coming to terms with the bomber's radicalization while a student in London.

In a Wall Street Journal column Friday, Douglas Murray recounts how those who sounded alarm bells were dismissed and belittled. Murray, director of London's Centre for Social Cohesion, ranks highly among those trying to heard.

Umar Farouk Abdullah, the Nigerian who tried to ignite a bomb on Northwest flight 253, led the Islamic Society while a student at University College of London. Three of his predecessors have been charged with terrorist crimes, Murray notes. Others, like Abdulmuttalab, have executed attacks.

"It was a graduate of the London School of Economics who kidnapped and beheaded Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002. It was two undergraduates from Kings College London who carried out a suicide bombing in a bar in Tel Aviv the following year.

But as the list of British students turning to terrorism grew, so did the denial that there was anything wrong."

Murray has noted the frequent invitation to speak on campuses to Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemeni cleric considered an inspiration to jihadists, and others who advocate violent jihad. His center commissioned a poll in 2008 which found a third of Muslim students justified killing in the name of their religion – a figure nearly doubled among Islamic Society members. Other results showed strong support for the imposition of religious law.

We've seen similar denial in the U.S. and we have no shortage of radical student union activity. The disappearance of five Washington, D.C.-area college students, who turned up in Pakistan last month hoping to join the jihad against American troops, should demonstrate that we should not follow the indulgent approach.

Islamist Threats – External and Internal

Al Qaeda is issuing a new threat against the U.S. Navy and personnel around the world, reports Bill Gertz of the Washington Times. Those threats include naval vessels, nuclear weapons deployed by the Navy and even extend to the family of Navy members.

The sad fact is such threats can not be expected to come solely from external sources. Nidal Malik Hasan, a radicalized Muslim Army officer, single-handedly killed 13 soldiers at Fort Hood. A U.S. Navy sailor, Hassan Abu-Jihaad, was convicted in 2008 for sending classified information about his fleet's travel plans in what prosecutors said was his hope of creating an attack like the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen. In 2005, Army Sgt Hasan Akbar was convicted and sentenced to death in a military court martial for murdering fellow soldiers in Kuwait in a grenade attack on the eve of invading Iraq.

He said "he was concerned about U.S. troops killing fellow Muslims in the Iraq war."

Then there are other cases involving nonviolent acts of internal sabotage. Samar Khalil Spinelli, a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps who is a native of Lebanon, pled guilty in 2007 to conspiring to help her acquaintance, Nada Nadim Prouty fraudulently obtaining naturalized U.S. citizenship after both engaged in sham marriages for immigration purposes. Prouty had worked as an FBI agent and CIA case officer. Spinelli admitted she obtained her U.S. citizenship through fraud.

Once naturalized, Spinelli and Prouty enjoyed high level security clearances. Prouty pled guilty of naturalization fraud, was stripped of her U.S. citizenship and ordered deported to her native Lebanon. That deportation was withheld; ostensibly due to the sensitive information and training she amassed during her tenure as both a FBI and CIA agent.

Other cases unrelated to terrorism show people can slip through the cracks. Last month, it was reported that a 22-year active duty U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer serving in a sensitive post at the Mayport Naval Station near Jacksonville, Fla. was arrested on passport fraud charges. It turned out he served his entire Navy tenure under an assumed identity. The case demonstrates how schemes exist for people to infiltrate our armed forces without getting caught.

The Christmas day near-miss attack aboard the Amsterdam to Detroit Northwest airliner was a clear reminder we are directly engaged with a determined Islamist enemy. That enemy has just publicly stated its intention to specifically target a branch of our armed forces. As its message resonates with an increasing number of westerners, accountability must replace complacency within the military and other government bureaucracies.

Brush with Terror Changes Muslim Woman's View of Profiling

Hebba Aref, one of the two women asked to change seats at a 2008 Obama rally because she was wearing a hijab and former board member for the Muslim Students' Association (MSA) at UM- Dearborn, is now advocating security over privacy and profiling for air travel checks.

Aref, who has been an advocate of privacy rights and an opponent of profiling in the past, was one of the passengers aboard Northwest flight 253 when a Nigerian man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, attempted to detonate explosives he had smuggled aboard the flight in his underwear.. She says the experience caused her to change her beliefs about what is necessary to keep passengers safe.

In an interview Aref said that she now "acknowledges the fact that there has to be attention paid to Muslims." Aref also hopes that in the future "body scans will be mandatory." She explained that "balanced against national security, it's worth the invasion of privacy."

White House Outlines Intelligence Failures, Institutes Changes in Procedures

President Obama ordered changes within seven agencies tied to national security Thursday in an effort to beef up intelligence and security about possible terrorist threats in the wake of the failed Christmas Day plot to blow up an airliner.

The changes include more attention on visas issued by the State Department, aggressive pursuit of new airport screening technology and steps to strengthen intelligence sharing among counterterrorism analysts.

The changes come in concert with the release of a summary of the White House's preliminary review of the attempted terrorist attack on Northwest Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit. The report concludes that the U.S. government "had sufficient information prior to the attempted December 25 attack to have potentially disrupted" the plot by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)to bring down the plane.

The "most significant failures and shortcomings" by the U.S. government's counterterrorism community before the attack fall into three broad categories, according to the report:

*A failure of intelligence analysis, in which counterterrorism agencies "failed before December 25 to identify, correlate, and fuse into a coherent story all of the discrete pieces of intelligence held by the U.S. Government related to an emerging terrorist plot" organized by AQAP and carried out by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the individual terrorist.

*A failure "to assign responsibility and accountability" for following up information on "high priority" threats and to "run down all leads, and track them through to completion."

*Failing "to identify intelligence" in the government's possession "that would have allowed Mr. Abdulmutallab to be watchlisted, and potentially prevented from boarding an aircraft bound for the United States."

Hours before the changes were announced, the Los Angeles Times reported on administration officials' contradictory assessments of what kind of information about Abdulmutallab's jihadist ties would have been necessary to prevent him from boarding the plane in Amsterdam.

U.S. border security officials said they had learned about Abdulmutallab's radical ties as he was airborne from Amsterdam to Detroit and had decided to question him when he landed. Senior law enforcement officials said that if the intelligence had been detected sooner, it could have resulted in Abdulmutallab's interrogation – possibly resulting in a decision to keep him off the plane.

But an administration official said late Wednesday that the information would not have resulted in further scrutiny before Abdulmutallab left Amsterdam. Because he was in a database containing nearly half a million names of people with suspected terrorist links who were not considered threats, border security officials would have only tried to question him upon arrival in the United States.

"The public isn't aware how many people are allowed to travel through the U.S., who are linked, who intersect with bad guys or alleged bad guys," a national security official told the Times. "It makes sense from an intelligence perspective. If they are not considered dangerous, it provides intelligence on where they go, who they meet with."

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